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A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand
- Thread starter Leongsam
- Start date
Bhai,
Weather is hot.
How I wish I was in Bangkok now.
-watch :
Weather is hot.
How I wish I was in Bangkok now.
-watch :
Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year that runs over three days of public holidays from April 13th – 15th. The name Songkran comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “to move” or “to pass into”. Water is used as a symbol of purification, so Thai people pour fragrant water over Buddhist images and elders as a blessing before the new year. As time passed, this unique Thai festival is now widely recognised as the water festival.
There are plenty of places to celebrate Songkran in Bangkok. Even without looking for one, you are in danger of stumbling into the middle of a water fight as soon as you step onto the street. Often this is just a bunch of local kids on the street outside their home splashing people as they pass by.
Here are some recommended places that we have gathered for you.
Temples
If you would like to experience traditional Thai new year activities away from the craziness of the modern-day water fights, visiting temples is a great idea. Since Songkran is a Buddhist festival, temples across the country no matter huge or small typically held Songkran activities. Hence, it’s just as worthwhile to visit whichever local temple is closest to your home or hotel and take a look at how local Thai Buddhists are marking the occasion there.
There are plenty of places to celebrate Songkran in Bangkok. Even without looking for one, you are in danger of stumbling into the middle of a water fight as soon as you step onto the street. Often this is just a bunch of local kids on the street outside their home splashing people as they pass by.
Here are some recommended places that we have gathered for you.
Temples
If you would like to experience traditional Thai new year activities away from the craziness of the modern-day water fights, visiting temples is a great idea. Since Songkran is a Buddhist festival, temples across the country no matter huge or small typically held Songkran activities. Hence, it’s just as worthwhile to visit whichever local temple is closest to your home or hotel and take a look at how local Thai Buddhists are marking the occasion there.
True Story :
The movie is based on the true story of Rujisamorn, a caring principal who saves her school, which is about to be seized by land developers. Fearing her poor students will not be able to afford tuition fees if her school closes down, Rujisamorn denies the THB1 billion offer from the developers and keeps operating the school for the sake of her students.
The movie is based on the true story of Rujisamorn, a caring principal who saves her school, which is about to be seized by land developers. Fearing her poor students will not be able to afford tuition fees if her school closes down, Rujisamorn denies the THB1 billion offer from the developers and keeps operating the school for the sake of her students.
1,000,000,000 Thai Baht equals
42,731,610.00 Singapore Dollars
42,731,610.00 Singapore Dollars
Govt mulls visa rule overhaul for expats, tourists, investors
PUBLISHED : 12 APR 2021 AT 12:09
WRITER: BLOOMBERG AND ONLINE REPORTERS
The online filing system for 90-day reports has been down for more than a month. (Screenshot from www.immigration.go.th/)
The government could revamp immigration rules this year to make it easier for expats and long-term tourists to stay in the country, part of a strategy to boost investment and tourism revenue once the pandemic eases.
The proposed changes could mean foreigners would no longer have to file 90-day reports of their whereabouts -- a deeply unpopular requirement, particularly now that the online filing system has been down for more than a month.
Expats trying to file online have been greeted with a flashy animation painting the immigration service in a glamorous light, followed by a simple text message that the system is "temporarily closed for maintenance". No further information is given, including when the system might be repaired. Hotel staff have also been frustated because the TM-30 reporting system has also been down.
“Immigration rules are the key pain point” for foreigners working in Thailand, Chayotid Kridakorn, 54, a former head of JPMorgan Securities (Thailand) who’s leading a government task force to smooth investment into Thailand, said in a phone interview from Bangkok. “We want to make it easier for foreigners to live and work in Thailand.”
Authorities contend that making it easier for foreign companies to bring in skilled workers and for western retirees to stay in Thailand will boost the economy, which suffered its biggest contraction in more than two decades last year. Gross domestic product growth won’t return to pre-Covid levels until the third quarter of 2022, according to the Bank of Thailand.
A detailed framework to boost investment and tourism will be proposed to the government’s economic panel within a month, Mr Chayotid said. Plans include improving regulations on immigration, visa applications and work permits for foreign experts, including relaxing the requirement for foreign workers to report their whereabouts to authorities every 90 days.
The framework also will include inducements for foreign investors such as corporate income-tax cuts, relaxed property-holding rules and incentives for retirees and start-up companies.
Retirees, Pensioners
Mr Chayotid, an adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, said he aims to attract one million retirees or pensioners to Thailand in the next few years, who he claimed could contribute as much as 1.2 trillion baht to the economy each year.
Thailand has seen foreign direct investment tumble more than 50% in the past five years to about 361 billion baht in 2020 as investors were deterred by factors including periodic political uncertainties, low growth prospects due to an aging society and a labour shortage. Foreign tourist arrivals into Thailand plunged to 6.7 million last year, the lowest level in at least 12 years, after the country closed its borders to contain the pandemic.
Areas that need immediate improvement include visas and regulations that prevent Thailand from gaining more value from foreigners and foreign workers, Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said in a March speech that was posted recently on the central bank’s website.
Other points from the interview with Mr Chayotid:
PUBLISHED : 12 APR 2021 AT 12:09
WRITER: BLOOMBERG AND ONLINE REPORTERS
The online filing system for 90-day reports has been down for more than a month. (Screenshot from www.immigration.go.th/)
The government could revamp immigration rules this year to make it easier for expats and long-term tourists to stay in the country, part of a strategy to boost investment and tourism revenue once the pandemic eases.
The proposed changes could mean foreigners would no longer have to file 90-day reports of their whereabouts -- a deeply unpopular requirement, particularly now that the online filing system has been down for more than a month.
Expats trying to file online have been greeted with a flashy animation painting the immigration service in a glamorous light, followed by a simple text message that the system is "temporarily closed for maintenance". No further information is given, including when the system might be repaired. Hotel staff have also been frustated because the TM-30 reporting system has also been down.
“Immigration rules are the key pain point” for foreigners working in Thailand, Chayotid Kridakorn, 54, a former head of JPMorgan Securities (Thailand) who’s leading a government task force to smooth investment into Thailand, said in a phone interview from Bangkok. “We want to make it easier for foreigners to live and work in Thailand.”
Authorities contend that making it easier for foreign companies to bring in skilled workers and for western retirees to stay in Thailand will boost the economy, which suffered its biggest contraction in more than two decades last year. Gross domestic product growth won’t return to pre-Covid levels until the third quarter of 2022, according to the Bank of Thailand.
A detailed framework to boost investment and tourism will be proposed to the government’s economic panel within a month, Mr Chayotid said. Plans include improving regulations on immigration, visa applications and work permits for foreign experts, including relaxing the requirement for foreign workers to report their whereabouts to authorities every 90 days.
The framework also will include inducements for foreign investors such as corporate income-tax cuts, relaxed property-holding rules and incentives for retirees and start-up companies.
Retirees, Pensioners
Mr Chayotid, an adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow, said he aims to attract one million retirees or pensioners to Thailand in the next few years, who he claimed could contribute as much as 1.2 trillion baht to the economy each year.
Thailand has seen foreign direct investment tumble more than 50% in the past five years to about 361 billion baht in 2020 as investors were deterred by factors including periodic political uncertainties, low growth prospects due to an aging society and a labour shortage. Foreign tourist arrivals into Thailand plunged to 6.7 million last year, the lowest level in at least 12 years, after the country closed its borders to contain the pandemic.
Areas that need immediate improvement include visas and regulations that prevent Thailand from gaining more value from foreigners and foreign workers, Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said in a March speech that was posted recently on the central bank’s website.
Other points from the interview with Mr Chayotid:
- The task force will talk to foreign manufacturers in Thailand, especially in the auto and electronic industries, about how to upgrade their technology or bring research and development functions to Thailand
- The team will recommend the government offer more incentives and develop infrastructure for use of electric cars, which could encourage local producers to meet rising demand locally
- The team will approach new investors when Thailand reopens its borders later this year
Hua Hin hotspot highlights Covid's club explosion
Bangkok Post PUBLISHED : 12 APR 2021 AT 15:46
Hua Hin's normally bustling red-light district is deserted on Monday evening. (Photo: Dave Kendall)
Covid-19 transmissions in Hua Hin have showcased the threat the virus poses: a single case can multiply into an exponentially expanding outbreak, forcing people across the country to scramble for tests and beds in hospitals.
Prachuap Khiri Khan has registered 193 infections since the beginning of this month -- 142 of them in Hua Hin district -- and the outbreak is belived to have started with one individual.
The 26-year-old woman, who told health officials that she worked as a public relations officer at Krystal Club, left Bangkok with her boyfriend to visit to her mother in the resort city on March 30. Showing no symptoms, she did not realise she was carrying the coronavirus with her.
The night of her arrival in Hua Hin, she and seven friends and relatives went to Maya Exclusive Pub. The following day, March 31, she developed a high fever.
After she was told on April 1 that her friends at the high-end workplace in Thong Lor had tested positive, the PR representative went to a private hospital in Hua Hin to be tested. On April 3, she was confirmed to have contracted Covid-19.
The following day, April 4, the woman was admitted to Hua Hin Hospital -- but by that time, health investigators said, the virus was on the rampage. A total of 141 people, including her boyfriend, were infected in Hua Hin and 52 more southward throughout the province: Pran Buri, Sam Roi Yot, Kui Buri, Muang Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thap Sakae and Bang Saphan districts.
A chart shown by the Public Health Ministry on Monday indicated the superspreading event was the woman's visit to Maya on the night of March 30.
Health workers disinfect Maya Exclusive Pub in Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan. (Photo from Maya Exclusive Pub Facebook account)
Department of Disease Control director-general Opas Karnkawinpong on Monday commended officials in Hua Hin for their quick decision to sanitise all places that might be harbouring traces of the virus that apparently began its journey at Krystal.
The ministry is highlighting the Hua Hin case because it believes pubs are the new ground zero for Covid-19 in Thailand. According to an official count, at least 137 entertainment venues in at least 15 provinces are are recent breeding grounds for the virus. And the outbreak that emerged from Krystal and Emerald clubs in Thong Lor and jitterbugged its way across the country is particularly worrying because it is the UK strain that can spread 1.7 times faster than the original, according to Chulalongkorn University virologist Yong Poovorwan.
Dr Opas said on Monday that lack of cooperation from at-risk partiers was hampering health officials' ability to contain the outbreak. "Many pubgoers do not give us information until two or three days have passed," he added.
New cases in Thailand continue to mount, with a record high 967 logged on Monday -- up from only 26 at the beginning of this month.
Beds, beds, beds
After the rapid rise in cases led to calls for people at risk to get tested, the ministry was forced to calm fears there would be insufficient beds at hospitals.
A Twitter post on Monday showed people forming a long queue outside Kasemrad Bang Khae Hospital in Bangkok waiting to be tested.
The Department of Medical Services on Monday said the country has about 23,000 hospital beds reserved for Covid patients nationwide, including field hospitals. Bangkok alone has 4,000 set aside, and "about 2,000 beds in all networks are still available [in the capital]," Department of Medical Services director-general Somsak Akksilp said, referring to public, private and field hospitals.
Pubilc and private hospitals are partnering with hotels to turn their accommodation into makeshift hospitals for patients not in serious condition, he said, with more preparing to join.
Bangkok Post PUBLISHED : 12 APR 2021 AT 15:46
Hua Hin's normally bustling red-light district is deserted on Monday evening. (Photo: Dave Kendall)
Covid-19 transmissions in Hua Hin have showcased the threat the virus poses: a single case can multiply into an exponentially expanding outbreak, forcing people across the country to scramble for tests and beds in hospitals.
Prachuap Khiri Khan has registered 193 infections since the beginning of this month -- 142 of them in Hua Hin district -- and the outbreak is belived to have started with one individual.
The 26-year-old woman, who told health officials that she worked as a public relations officer at Krystal Club, left Bangkok with her boyfriend to visit to her mother in the resort city on March 30. Showing no symptoms, she did not realise she was carrying the coronavirus with her.
The night of her arrival in Hua Hin, she and seven friends and relatives went to Maya Exclusive Pub. The following day, March 31, she developed a high fever.
After she was told on April 1 that her friends at the high-end workplace in Thong Lor had tested positive, the PR representative went to a private hospital in Hua Hin to be tested. On April 3, she was confirmed to have contracted Covid-19.
The following day, April 4, the woman was admitted to Hua Hin Hospital -- but by that time, health investigators said, the virus was on the rampage. A total of 141 people, including her boyfriend, were infected in Hua Hin and 52 more southward throughout the province: Pran Buri, Sam Roi Yot, Kui Buri, Muang Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thap Sakae and Bang Saphan districts.
A chart shown by the Public Health Ministry on Monday indicated the superspreading event was the woman's visit to Maya on the night of March 30.
Health workers disinfect Maya Exclusive Pub in Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan. (Photo from Maya Exclusive Pub Facebook account)
Department of Disease Control director-general Opas Karnkawinpong on Monday commended officials in Hua Hin for their quick decision to sanitise all places that might be harbouring traces of the virus that apparently began its journey at Krystal.
The ministry is highlighting the Hua Hin case because it believes pubs are the new ground zero for Covid-19 in Thailand. According to an official count, at least 137 entertainment venues in at least 15 provinces are are recent breeding grounds for the virus. And the outbreak that emerged from Krystal and Emerald clubs in Thong Lor and jitterbugged its way across the country is particularly worrying because it is the UK strain that can spread 1.7 times faster than the original, according to Chulalongkorn University virologist Yong Poovorwan.
Dr Opas said on Monday that lack of cooperation from at-risk partiers was hampering health officials' ability to contain the outbreak. "Many pubgoers do not give us information until two or three days have passed," he added.
New cases in Thailand continue to mount, with a record high 967 logged on Monday -- up from only 26 at the beginning of this month.
Beds, beds, beds
After the rapid rise in cases led to calls for people at risk to get tested, the ministry was forced to calm fears there would be insufficient beds at hospitals.
A Twitter post on Monday showed people forming a long queue outside Kasemrad Bang Khae Hospital in Bangkok waiting to be tested.
The Department of Medical Services on Monday said the country has about 23,000 hospital beds reserved for Covid patients nationwide, including field hospitals. Bangkok alone has 4,000 set aside, and "about 2,000 beds in all networks are still available [in the capital]," Department of Medical Services director-general Somsak Akksilp said, referring to public, private and field hospitals.
Pubilc and private hospitals are partnering with hotels to turn their accommodation into makeshift hospitals for patients not in serious condition, he said, with more preparing to join.
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